John Huss and the Hussite Wars - James Aitken Wylie

walked between four town sergeants. The princes
and deputies, escorted by eight hundred men-atarms,
followed. In the cavalcade, mounted on
horseback, were many bishops and priests
delicately clad in robes of silk and velvet. The
population of Constance followed in mass to see
the end.
As Huss passed the episcopal palace, his
attention was attracted by a great fire which blazed
and crackled before the gates. He was informed
that on that pile his books were being consumed.
He smiled at this futile attempt to extinguish the
light which he foresaw would one day, and that not
very distant, fill all Christendom.
The procession crossed the bridge and halted in
a meadow, between the gardens of the city and the
gate of Gottlieben. Here the execution was to take
place. Being come to the spot where he was to die,
the martyr kneeled down, and began reciting the
penitential psalms. He offered up short and fervent
supplications, and oftentimes repeated, as the bystanders
bore witness, the words, "Lord Jesus, into
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